


Child's Play

by yakutori



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fluff, Like super fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-19
Updated: 2015-02-23
Packaged: 2018-03-13 17:20:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3389909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yakutori/pseuds/yakutori
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Iwaizumi Hajime was happy with where he was in life, but a presence named Oikawa Tooru makes his heart beat a little faster than it should. He didn't appreciate it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> SHOUTOUT TO KEN FOR GIVING ME LIKE 93% OF THESE IDEAS. In all honesty, I might change the title and the summary is a little eh, but in all essence, this is an Iwaoi au where they're older and didn't grow up together. Also, Takeru is the actual name of Oikawa's nephew, who knew (I didn't until friends educated me). Enjoy all this fluff, and I will try to update it quickly while I still have ideas. I haven't written something like this in a while, so I might go back and tweak a few things so I like it better, but I also needed to get this out because I promised I would.

Iwaizumi Hajime considered how he got into his current predicament of finger paint on his face and a teary eyed toddler in his arms, but it wasn’t an unusual scene. Once he had picked up the crying child, red and orange painted fingertips had patted his face and, as ridiculous as he may have looked, he didn’t mind much. Working in a daycare center with young kids had both its advantages and disadvantages. Iwaizumi would be lying as well if he said he didn’t like his job, it was quite the opposite. Working with the children in the center was probably the best job he could have asked for and it paid enough for him to get by each month for the most part.

“Come play with us, Iwa-sensei!”

Iwaizumi looked down at the small boy extending his arms towards the easels across the room. He looked to the kid who had finally calmed down in his arms before setting him on his own two feet. Allowing himself to be pulled along by the boy, Takeru, he sat down and watched them paint.

“What are you guys painting today?” Iwaizumi asked, eyes flickering to the other side of the room where one of the other workers was reading a book with a handful of kids. As the kids shared what they were working on, he looked back at the easels with paper on them lined up along them in a neat row. The plastic covering beneath was a mess of mixed colors from the paints dropping and spilling when the kids weren’t paying enough attention to them. Better the covering than their already colorful alphabet rug, though.

The bell on the front door jingled and in had walked one of the receptionists with someone ready to pick up their kid. “Takeru, your uncle is here!” she had called out, but the boy was already scrambling to put away his paints before running to the doorway.

“Wait, your hands—“

“Ah~ Takeru! Your hands still have paint all over them! You can’t go to volleyball practice like that.” The man standing in the doorway lightly grabbed his nephew’s wrists and led him back to where Iwaizumi was standing near the sink. As the boy begrudgingly lathered up his hands, the older man turned to the daycare worker. “Iwa-chan, thank you for taking care of the kids today! It’s a shame you’re stuck in here all the time, though.”

Oikawa Tooru, Takeru’s uncle, was a man that Iwaizumi had started to come into contact with more frequently than he would like to mention. The man was handsome, but he always seemed a little too laidback whenever he came to the daycare. His nephew had talked about him a lot, saying that the man had started teaching volleyball at the recreational center nearby and would pick him up for the practices. When Iwaizumi had asked why Oikawa came by most days, even when volleyball practice wasn’t that day, Takeru just shrugged to himself. He also would talk about all the things Oikawa would take him to do when his parents were busy or when he did well in practice. Slowly over the few weeks of Oikawa picking his nephew up, Iwaizumi began to realize that _maybe_ he had the wrong impression of Oikawa; the man really did care about his nephew even if he was nothing but flirty and too easygoing when he came into the daycare.

Iwaizumi scowled a bit. It wasn’t like he enjoyed the subtle flirting and he definitely didn’t feel his heart race a bit whenever he thought of the young volleyball coach. No matter how great Oikawa was to his nephew, he was sure he still flirted with _everyone_. He pushed away the bit of his heart that ached at the thought of not being a little special to Oikawa. He didn’t even know the man that well. Even if, by some recognition, Iwaizumi admitted he had some sort of crush on the other man, he would never say so out loud, especially when he worked in an environment with children. The real world wasn’t always so kind to those who weren’t “normal” and he could never be quite sure how people might react. Besides, he was happy with where he was now and didn’t need _love_ screwing it all up for him.

“I actually enjoy it here,” Iwaizumi said when he realized Oikawa was waiting for his reply. He frowned. Not exactly the best time to be getting distracted by pretty faces. “And don’t call me Iwa-chan.”

“Alright, alright _Iwaizumi-san._ ” Now Oikawa was just looking to piss him off, he just had a feeling. “It was nice getting to see you while I could. Come on, Takeru, let’s go. See you tomorrow, Iwa-chan!” Oikawa grabbed the bag his nephew had brought with him for the day and threw Iwaizumi a smile over his shoulder before departing. Iwaizumi let out a sigh of relief. None of the other adults set Iwaizumi on edge like Oikawa did and it _bothered_ the young caretaker.

“You know, if you keep frowning, you’re going to scare the kids,” one of the other workers patted his shoulder while Iwaizumi shook his head. “Sorry,” he muttered in response.

Oikawa walked out of the building with a bag slung over his shoulder and Takeru holding one of his hands. The boy peered up at his uncle, wondering what stopped the adult in his tracks. It wasn’t until Oikawa looked down at the boy with a shaky smile that he asked what was wrong.

“Hey, Takeru. I can trust you to keep a secret, right?” The boy nodded. “Well, I sort of have a crush. What do you think I should do?”

Without missing a beat, the younger boy replied, “Tell them! Ask them on a date!” Takeru couldn’t fathom _why_ it was a secret. Adults were weird.

“That’s the secret, though. It’s not a girl.” Oikawa lowered his voice a bit. “It’s Iwa-chan.”

“Oh. Is that why you always act _weird_ around him?” Takeru looked up at his uncle. Well, you can’t help crushes, Takeru thought, or else he would have _definitely_ thought that girl in his volleyball class was gross. Girls had cooties anyways. Still, Takeru shrugged. “Ask him on a date.”

“But,” Oikawa’s face contorted into a grimace, “but it’s not exactly that easy for adults? What if he doesn’t like me too?”

Takeru thought about it. Didn’t uncle Tooru always have a bunch of girls asking him out on dates? Surely Iwaizumi-sensei would be willing to go on one too. Besides, the daycare provider always seemed to perk up whenever Oikawa was mentioned. “Iwa-sensei would probably like you too. He looks scary, but he’s really nice! Even if he says no, we can still go out and get ice cream instead!”

Oikawa looked thoughtfully at the child walking next to him. He wished he had that kind of optimism to his thoughts. Takeru was right, though. If Iwaizumi didn’t feel the same, it’s not like he _had_ to see the other man. As childish as it was, he was infatuated and told his sister he wouldn’t mind picking up Takeru since his classes got out early, and taking him to practice or home every day. There was just something about Iwaizumi that had Oikawa captivated, and he would keep coming back for more.

His classes at the college took up most of his mornings while his evenings were spent either working the last shift as a waiter in a café or helping the children’s volleyball team at the rec center. Weekends, though, weekends he was mostly free, besides working when he was needed to fill in a shift. He was sure the daycare was closed on Sundays, maybe Iwaizumi would be free then?

“Okay. You win. Either I get a date, or we get some ice cream,” Oikawa teased, patting Takeru’s head lightly. The child let out a whoop of joy before trying to convince his uncle that he could both get a date _and_ get ice cream.

* * *

 

The next afternoon, when Oikawa came to pick up his nephew, Iwaizumi heard no cheesy lines from him, only a simple plea of “can I talk to you… _alone?_ ” The two went outside the backdoor that lead to the empty playground, swing slowly moving thanks to the strong breeze. This was it, Iwaizumi thought, Oikawa somehow had found out about his not-crush and was here to tell him not to hang around Takeru he was sure of it—

“Would you, um,” Oikawa started, looking uncharacteristically bashful, “I mean, if you wanted to, this Sunday, would you be free?”

Iwaizumi rose an eyebrow. “Free?”

“Yeah, like for a date?” Oikawa tried looking anywhere other than Iwaizumi’s face, but he could still feel eyes burning holes right through him. Chancing a glance at the shorter man, Oikawa was started to see his face tinted pink. Was there hope? He took a better look at Iwaizumi’s face but the latter just scowled.

“If this is your idea of a joke, it’s not funny.” Iwaizumi, though, could tell that part-time volleyball coach was being more serious than he had ever seen before.

“It’s not a joke!” Oikawa almost yelled, before quieting his voice. “Look, I’ve liked you for a while and even if we don’t start dating, I want to at least take this chance to know more about you.”

Iwaizumi leveled a stare at him. “I guess… if you’re serious, that is, Sunday… works for me.” His features softened when he saw Oikawa nervously wring his hands. He supposed it was alright for his not-crush to surface at a time like this. “Give me your number, we can work out the details later, but I need to get back to work.”

Oikawa’s hands shook as he grabbed the phone that was held out to him and punched in his number. When it was handed back, the owner sent off a quick text to make sure Oikawa had his number as well.

“Well, I guess I’ll see you Sunday then?” Oikawa questioned, grabbing the door and holding it open for Iwaizumi so he could get back to work.

“Sunday? Aren’t you coming to pick Takeru up these next few days?”

“Oh, um, my sister and I trade off. I just pick him up when she isn’t able to because of her work.”

Iwaizumi raised a brow, but said nothing else as Oikawa moved over to make sure his nephew had everything packed in his bag, ready for volleyball practice. He watched as Takeru whispered something to his relative before the older one gave him a thumbs up and Takeru high fived him. The small boy ran up to Iwaizumi and gave him a toothy grin.

“See you tomorrow, Iwa-sensei!”

He crouched down, more eye level with Takeru than before, and gave him a smile back. “Have a safe trip home!”

“We will!”

Oikawa looked around the room before heading out the door, and blew a kiss before scuttling out of the building. Iwaizumi mustered up his most deadpan expression in response, but he couldn’t help the fluttering feeling in his stomach.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First dates don't always go quite as planned, but Iwaizumi rather liked this first one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YOO. Shoutout goes pretty much this whole story to my friend Ken because she has given me ideas like no other and I plan on spreading them out this whole story!  
> So I wanted to get this out here and, although it's not as long, it was more of an intro into the beginning of a relationship because I decided I want this to go on for awhile and flourish instead of having a sudden relationship out of nowhere. I was only planning on making this like, three-ish chapters but I think I want it to go on a little longer since that feels more comfortable if that's alright with all of you. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter and the next one should be out within a few days since I have some ideas for it! I'm slowly getting a hang of the writing I want for this so it should improve with time.

Rubbing his hands together, Iwaizumi shifted his weight from one leg to the other. It was early spring, and while the sun was out, the breeze made it cold enough to where his hands turned a bit red without gloves on them. It was partly that, and partly Iwaizumi’s nerves that made him play with his hands. He had gotten there early, but he could have been _sure_ it was past time for Oikawa to meet him for their date. True to Oikawa’s words, Takeru’s mom came to pick him up the next few days and, besides a few infrequent texts to assure the meeting place, Iwaizumi hadn’t seen the other man since that afternoon when he was originally asked on the date. Had it really been a joke and he was being laughed at for actually showing up when it was all to mess with his feelings? He pulled his phone out of his pocket and checked the time—Oikawa was sixteen minutes late—before a weight had flung itself onto his leg, almost knocking him off balance.

“Iwa-sensei!”

Iwaizumi looked down at Takeru who had grabbed his pant leg in order to slow down his pace. The boy smiled up at his daycare teacher and let go of his pants in order to let the man regain his balance. Iwaizumi looked up in time to see Oikawa sprinting towards them, yelling at Takeru to wait and avoiding people walking as best he could.

“Takeru! How many times do I have to tell you that you can’t run off ahead of me?” Oikawa looked up at Iwaizumi, flustered as he took his nephew’s hand. “Sorry, I really didn’t mean to be so late, but my sister had an emergency at work so I had to come pick Takeru up. I hope it’s not too inconvenient to bring him along?”

Iwaizumi shook his head and offered a lopsided smile to the pair. It really wasn’t a problem for him; he loved being around all the kids at the daycare center and found he didn’t really mind that their first date would have an extra addition to the group. He swooped down to one knee and Takeru immediately had Oikawa put him on Iwaizumi’s shoulders.

“Are you sure that’s alright with you?” Oikawa asked as his date stood up with each hand secured on one of Takeru’s legs so he wouldn’t fall. Iwaizumi gave a half-hearted shrug in response. He didn’t really want to answer that he was maybe trying to show off for Oikawa, because it’s not like he _wanted_ to impress the other man.

The two of them started walking down the street with no particular destination in mind, a silence lingering between them except for the few times when Takeru would ask a question. Iwaizumi didn’t know what to say, really. He had been on dates before, but none of them were ever so out in the open. Most of them had been going to the movies or sitting in a secluded booth at a restaurant where he and his date would be hidden from the world’s prying eyes. His eyes drifted to Oikawa who was looking around at the scenery. It wasn’t until Takeru patted Iwaizumi’s head and pointed to an ice cream parlor that the group of them finally stopped.

“Ice cream doesn’t sound too bad right now.”

Making their way towards the shop, Iwaizumi was stopped by a group of women giggling at him.

“Is that your son?” one woman asked, while another gasped. “Oh, you look so young, but you’re taking him out for the day.”

“It’s so nice to see fathers spending time with their children.”

“You guys are cute together!” another woman gushed, before pushing her friends along. “We’ll leave you be, but keep up the good work.”

Before any of the group could get a response in edgewise, the women had continued on their way. Iwaizumi look dumbfounded as he watched them walk away from the two men. “Do I really look like a father?” The last thing he wanted was for this date to go wrong because of strangers interrupting it. He looked over to his date, but he couldn't help chuckling a bit to himself at what he saw.

Oikawa was pouting. “They were _supposed_ to mention how cute you and I were together, Iwa-chan.”

Iwaizumi rolled his eyes, deciding he could let the nickname go for the day. A pouting Oikawa was rather cute, however, and Iwaizumi was almost glad he got mistaken for Takeru’s father just to see it. He let out a fake sigh of annoyance and grabbed Oikawa’s hand, ignoring the way his heart jumped into his throat a bit at the contact. The heat in his face was rising more drastically than he would like to have admitted, but he decided it was worth it as Oikawa squeezed his hand in response.

“Hey, Iwa-sensei, you look nothing like my dad!” Takeru burst in, before pointing in the direction of the ice cream shop that was the previous destination.

“Of course he doesn’t!” Oikawa chided, playfully sticking his tongue out at his relative. “He’s a lot more handsome.”

“That’s mean, uncle Tooru!”

Iwaizumi, despite the lighthearted bickering going on in the group, smiled to himself a bit. At least the earlier tension and silence was less potent in the air. The fact that Oikawa had yet to let go of his hand was a good sign as well. It felt like this could really work out if the chance came because it was just so comfortable being around them. Iwaizumi decided he really didn't want to let this feeling die out. Besides, Oikawa called him handsome.

The trio entered the parlor and ordered their ice cream, Oikawa insisting that he pay despite all of Iwaizumi’s complaints against it, and was on their way back out. Takeru was still sitting on top of Iwaizumi’s shoulders, one arm wrapped around his head for balance while the other carefully held onto the ice cream cone so as not to drop it on the daycare worker’s head. Even with both his hands full—one holding a tight grip onto Takeru and the other holding Oikawa’s hand—Iwaizumi was content with himself.

“You can have some.” Oikawa held out his ice cream to Iwaizumi. “If you want.”

Iwaizumi’s cheeks turned a little pink as he carefully ate some of the ice cream. Takeru watched the two adults, giggling a bit to himself at how shy they were being with each other. It was different from when his uncle would pick him up and the two would normally hold terse conversations involving Oikawa sending flirtatious lines while Iwaizumi shot them down. The light conversation about whatever was coming to mind, even if it wasn’t the most romantic, came as a huge improvement from previous encounters. Takeru was glad he got to be the wingman on the first date.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just kinda me rambling, so feel free to ignore. I really wanted this out like, a few days ago but I just got really sick over the weekend. So, surviving on chocolate covered blueberries and lots of water, I managed to crank this out at like 11pm to finally post it. I'm actually really surprised at how many people liked this because it was just kind of a spur of the moment "I wanna write" type thing with no real plot in mind. You guys are really great omg. Thank you so much and I hope you guys enjoyed this so far!


End file.
